If you think you can quickly throw together a resume by copying and pasting your job description, duties, and responsibilities, boy are you wrong.

A resume is the most important document you will ever own - it either opens doors to career and financial success, or closes them.

And there is no quick fix. A resume takes work. And YOU have to do most of the work.

Even if you hire a Certified Professional Resume Writer, you still need to do the legwork - they cannot read your mind, and therefore don’t know what you’ve accomplished. Only you do.

So have a coffee or two, and let’s get to work. I’ve researched, compiled, and outlined everything you need to do (and not do) – you just have to do the rest.

I’m going to start with the basics, and end with some killer content tips, so be sure to read to the very end! And you can download this guide in checklist form here to make sure you've got it all covered!

1. Disregard any resume length "rules"

Do not limit the length of your resume based on any “rules.” The length of your resume is less important than its relevance to the target job.

You need to sell yourself as best you can, while ensuring your resume has good page design, consistent white space and adequate spacing.

This might mean making your resume two well spaced out pages instead of one difficult to read page in size 8 font.

2. Skip the free template: it's time to upgrade

Make your own or buy one, because everyone and their mothers are using those free MS Word templates and hiring managers are sick of looking at them.

Buy a pretty template and you will IMMEDIATELY stand out - and after implementing all of these resume tips, your resume content will be as amazing as the design.

3. Use an appropriate design for your profession

I know, there are a ton of cute and pretty template designs out there, but unless you’re in a more creative industry, skip them and choose something that fits your profession.

If you're in a conservative field, choose from one of my professional designs. Stick to conservative colors no matter what. NO purples, pinks, neons, red, orange or yellow! A resume is not for showing off your personality and you won't be taken seriously.

4. Ditch the photo

Please don’t include a photo on your resume unless you’re in a profession that requires it or the listing specifically states to include one: modeling, acting, some types of sales, etc. Photos on a resume are common if you’re in practically any country other than the US, but here it’s a big no-no. If anyone really wants to know what you look like, they can find you on LinkedIn.

5. Ditch the social media links

Unless your social media is completely dedicated to your work, impressive side job, or charity, keep it off your resume! This is a RESUME. Keep it professional.

6. Make sure your email address is professional

If you’re still holding onto that email address from middle school and it looks something like this - flowergurl15@email.com - PLEASE create a new, professional email address just for your resume and work life.

If you still have an AOL or Hotmail email address, upgrade to Gmail. You do not want to risk looking like you're stuck in the 90's technologically.

7. Shorten your LinkedIn URL (!!!!!!)

If you include a link to your LinkedIn page, please shorten the URL. Most default URLs look something like this: www.linkedin.com/in/firstname-lastname-789643963

But, you can change the part after the “/in/” to whatever you want! Your goal is to make it as short and sweet as possible, so it just looks like this: www.linkedin.com/in/FirstLast

You change your URL on the right side of your Profile page: directions here.

8. Include the most targeted and impressive info on page 1

You need to keep the most impressive and targeted (to the posting) information on page 1, specifically the top two-thirds.

If you have really great achievements from jobs that aren’t current enough to make it to page 1, you can add in an Achievements section right below (or instead of) your Professional Profile but before your Experience to include all your most impressive (and targeted) information.

9. Be mindful of the ATS

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are software used by companies that receive, sort, and store resumes of job applicants.

The ATS will then spit out resume information to a human who asks for specific criteria.

But, your resume can get snubbed by the ATS and never get seen by human eyes if it’s in the wrong format and unreadable, doesn’t include relevant keywords from the job posting, is missing some of the posting requirements, etc.

To be chosen by the ATS, upload your resume in PDF format, target your resume to the job posting by including relevant keywords, and keep your headings as common resume terms (read on for the details).

10. Headings should be common resume terms

Stick to the basics, because an ATS will search for specific headings, looking for the content you have underneath. If it doesn’t find your heading, it doesn’t find your content.

11. Ditch the objective statement

Yup, the times have changed. This area is no longer called an Objective Statement, and you are not going to write an Objective Statement, because companies do not care what your objectives are (I know, it’s depressing).

Do not write what you are looking for in a job, like this: “Technician seeking a position with XYZ Company to further my skills and interest in Pharmacy.”

12. Instead, create a Professional Profile

Call it a Professional Profile, or a Career Summary. This is different than an Objective, because you are going to sell yourself and convince the reader that you would be an asset to their company and they need you.

For example: “Technician with six years of experience in a 500+ prescription per day, long term care pharmacy. Proven ability to increase efficiency and reduce errors with creative new ideas and processes. Extensive knowledge of specialty pharmacy practices, rules and regulations.”

This is great, because: You gave a general overview of your experience and skills, mentioned how you can solve a big pharmacy problem (efficiency/speed and reducing errors), and displayed what you know (which can help the company with another pharmacy problem: regulations).

The point is, the reader (prospective employer) comes first. This is where you want to show why you’ll be an asset to the organization and what you can do for them.

This paragraph needs to entice the reader to continue reading and find out more.

You can also give a broad summary of your career, or mention any amazing accomplishments that reside on later resume pages to entice the reader to make it past page one.

You want to present your best self here, so find your greatest accomplishments/traits and really show yourself off!

13. Put Education in its place

Education doesn’t always come first on a resume.

For new graduates, put this section at the top.

But if you’ve been out of college for a while, your Experience and Skills sections will be more important, so put this section further down the page.

The exception is for professions where academic qualifications dominate: medicine, law, etc. Your degrees should be listed from highest to lowest level.

If you graduated college, PLEASE don’t include high school.

In your Education section, you need to include:

The full name of your degree (or expected degree)

Your concentration

The college/university name

The town and state

The year you graduated (or expect to): omit this if it was over 15 years ago.

Your GPA, but only if it’s above 3.0

Any impressive awards or honors you received

If you went to college and are done but did not graduate, list any related coursework and omit the degree name and date.

If you are still in college and are expecting to graduate, for the date just add the word “expected” before the date: Expected May 2018.

You can also list certifications that you’re working on, just add “expected” and the expected date.

14. List your work experience in reverse chronological order

Make sure to list you work experience from most current to oldest, from date of hire. This is called a "chronological resume," and despite what others may tell you, is what employers really want to see.

Most hiring managers want to see what you did in each job, not just a broad list of your accomplishments or skills without any idea of what job they correlate to, as you would do with a "functional resume."

There are some situations where a chronological format may not be the best way to display your accomplishments, and in that case I recommend creating two sections under Experience:

- Relevant Experience first (where you can list your most applicable jobs and related accomplishments so they show up on page 1)

- Additional Experience last (put all your other random experience here, so it lands on page 2)

15. Create one master resume

If you’re applying to jobs that are all a bit different, you need to have one “master” resume and change it every time you apply to a specific job (or similar jobs).

Your master resume should include every single thing you can think of that you’ve done. You’re not going to send it out, so you can keep it in draft form.

You need to have a master list of all of your skills, duties, and achievements from every single job you’ve held that you can pick and choose from to create a RELEVANT and TARGETED resume for each job you apply to.

16. Target your resume to each job you apply for

Your resume could be pretty amazing, and STILL not be chosen by a human or an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) simply because your resume does not match any keywords in the job posting.

Think of it as a Google search. When you search for something on Google, Google pulls keywords from websites and finds you the best match. That’s exactly what an ATS does.

If your resume isn’t relevant to the job at hand and doesn’t include listing or industry keywords or you don’t meet the requirements, you won’t get pulled.

The job posting will tell you exactly what the prospective employer is looking for in an ideal candidate, so you need to create a resume that matches the target job’s requirements, skills, and responsibilities.

You need to BECOME the ideal candidate (without lying, of course).

If you don’t have any of the skills or requirements needed, don’t apply to the job! Find another that fits you better.

You have to focus on the employer’s needs. Remember, they’re looking to fill a specific position, with specific duties, skills, and requirements and probably have hundreds of applicants to choose from.

If there are a few similar jobs you're interested in, collect all of the listings and identify any skills, keywords, requirements, etc. that are common to all listings.

Identify any problems to solve. Take note of the daily duties of the position and what problems you will need to identify/prevent/solve on a daily basis.

Identify how you can help the company in terms of money saved, money earned, or time saved on a daily basis.

Now, sprinkle these keywords throughout your resume, particularly the Skills section, and demonstrate that you have these skills or valuable traits by describing your achievements relating to them in your Experience.

Do this for each job you apply to.

18. Demonstrate the value you can bring to the company

Remember, you’re being hired because you have a job to do – create value for the company.

Businesses exist to make money, and therefore money is of high value. The very position you’re applying to most likely exists to help an employer maintain and increase profitability.

Businesses care about:

- Making money

- Saving money

- Increasing productivity or efficiency (providing the opportunity to make money in the time saved)

And if you can show that you've done these things in the past, you have a MUCH better chance of getting a callback.

What’s the benefit of hiring you? What can YOU do for THEM? How can you further their goals?

Now, this concept isn’t so cut and dry for some jobs, but every company, organization, or field values SOMETHING.

For example, what if you’re a teacher?

Think of what a school administration or a district values: an increase in test scores, an increase in grade point average, reduction in absenteeism, increasing the grade level of one or a few at-risk students, securing a grant, etc.

Want to work for a non-profit?

They still value money, although it’s not as cut and dry. Your value may lie in the expertise you can bring to the table, how you can further the organization’s goals, how effectively you can assist in raising money through your marketing skills, creating and maintaining excellent relationships with sponsors, being efficient and increasing productivity, etc.

Once you determine the value you would bring to the company, describe the ways you’ve demonstrated this in previous jobs or experiences, and be sure to explain HOW you accomplished it.

Here are some questions to help you recall important accomplishments at work that may have added value:

When did you go above and beyond your job description to do much more than earn your pay that day? What did you do?

What work concept/technique/skill do you know SO WELL that you often teach to others?

What have you done that you’re most proud of?

What have you created/reorganized/designed that’s been incredibly helpful?

What praise have you received from your bosses or colleagues?

What are your key strengths and how do you use them at work?

Your boss always counts on YOU to do that one thing you’re great at. What is that one thing?

Now that you know what the company values and how you've created value in the past, you need to phrase your sentences/bullets in an effective way.

19. Create achievement-based sentences

The best way to show how you’ve added value in the past is by creating an achievement-based resume (as opposed to a resume full of boring duties or responsibilities).

There are two similar ways to do this. You can format sentences in this way:

23. Get to the point

Be clear and concise. Omit any wordy phrases or irrelevant information. Take out any unnecessary words, and format your sentences in the most concise way possible.

24. Make sure your formatting is consistent

Most people are too busy reading over the content of their resumes to step back and take a look at the small details.

Make sure all the formatting is consistent: your titles are all either bolded or italic or neither, the bullets all line up and are the same, the spacing between paragraphs and bullets is consistent, etc.

Keep the date formats consistent too. Either include months, or don’t. Spell out the months or use numbers. Whatever you do, keep it consistent from job to job!

I am a pro at this, so if you decide to purchase a resume template, once you're done you can email it to me at any time and I can fix it all up for you!

25. Make sure your punctuation is consistent

I see this all the time – periods at the end of some bullets, left out on others. Just keep it consistent.

If you have any bullets that are longer with commas and a few “and”s, or have a colon or semi-colon, use periods.

If your bullets are mainly short, fragments of sentences, you can skip the periods.

Use your best judgment. If it sounds and looks like it needs a period, stick it in there.

26. Use past and present tense correctly

Use past tense for previous jobs, and present tense for current jobs. If your job dates end in “– Current” or “– Present,” then PLEASE use present tense. If you are no longer at a job, use past tense.

27. Prioritize your bullets

Your most impressive and relevant achievements should go towards the top of each work experience so they’re seen first. Put the boring stuff towards the end – the first few bullets are more likely to be read completely.

28. Avoid big blocks of text

No one wants to read a jam-packed resume that looks like a dissertation. Break up your long paragraphs and big blocks of text, or use bullets instead!

However, there are some jobs that place a large value on personality where a more informal tone is acceptable (education, the arts, and the caring professions where personality is essential to your job). In these cases, it may be beneficial for you to include personal pronouns.

30. Don't mix first and third person

If you’re using pronouns, don’t mix first (I, me, my) with third (she, he). Just stick to one (I vote for personal – writing in third person is just weird).

31. Avoid or explain unemployment gaps

Don’t leave any questions as to your employment – a question is usually just a “NO” in the hiring manager’s mind.

If you can avoid gaps in the actual resume because you have volunteer work or professional development to take the place of employment, include it.

If you can't hide the gap, jot down what you did during that time and the time frame, and explain in the cover letter how you're passionate about the field and eager to return to work.

32. Proofread your resume

Some picky hiring managers WILL throw out your resume if you have any avoidable spelling errors or terrible grammar.

And if you don’t take the time to read over your resume, the most important document you own, that doesn’t say good things about you or your work ethic to the hiring team.

33. Upload/email your resume in PDF format, not Word format

Upload your resume as a PDF file. Word documents never look exactly as they should on the receiving end, but a PDF file is like a picture – it looks exactly the same on any computer.

Most ATS can read PDF files very well, and as long as PDF is listed as one of the accepted formats when you’re uploading your resume to the job posting, you’re safe.

34. Merge your PDFs into one file

Certain Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) will require you to upload only one file and don’t have separate sections for a cover letter or references. That’s fine.

Once you save your files as PDFs, you can go to pdfmerge.com, upload each individual file and hit Merge! And voila, it will merge the files for you and automatically download the combined file onto your computer.

35. Save your resume as First.Lastname.Resume

Save your resume as “John.Smith.Resume.pdf” if you are emailing or uploading your resume!

Recruiters will most likely save the file and need to easily find it again – you want them to smile because you did this the right way, instead of them silently cursing at you because they had to rename the file themselves!

Do the same for your references and cover letter, too.

36. Land that job!

Enough said. If you read through every single one of these tips (YAY YOU!) and still have questions, please don’t hesitate to email me at getlanded@gmail.com.